


What Steve Knew

by Kizmet



Series: Interview Cannon Sucks [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Not Steve Friendly, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 10:23:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13385829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kizmet/pseuds/Kizmet
Summary: Failed attempt at clearing the air.





	What Steve Knew

**Author's Note:**

> I’m perfectly aware of the Interview Canon that says Steve really didn’t know that the Winter Soldier assassinated Tony’s parents. 
> 
> I’m a fan of Death of the Author, “that an author's intentions and biographical facts (the author's politics, religion, etc) should hold no weight in determining an interpretation of their writing. This is usually understood as meaning that a writer's views about their own work are no more or less valid than the interpretations of any given reader. Intentions are one thing. What was actually accomplished might be something very different.”
> 
> I’ve been deeply suspicious of Marvel’s interview canon in particular, ever since “Dead Mean Dead,” announced right after a storyline where it was necessary for the audience to believe that Magneto’s nth death was important and meaningful. And then “Oh wait, Dead Means Dead unless there’s a really good story to tell” announced not long after it was revealed that Magneto had never been dead in the first place. 
> 
> I simply loathe Interview Canon when it contradicts what actually made it into the script.

“Tony!” Steve held Tony back while the rest of the newly rejoined team left the conference room. 

Tony stared at the hand on his arm like it was a dead animal. 

“I just wanted to clear the air before we went into battle against Thanos,” Steve said. “There was something I said, I think you took it the wrong way. When I said ‘yes’ in Siberia, I just meant that I knew about the murder, I didn’t know it was Bucky.”

Tony continued glaring at Steve’s hand until, self-consciously, he moved it. Still Steve was determined not to have this miscommunication hanging over them any longer, he moved to block the door.

“Do you have issues with English comprehension?” Tony demanded. At Steve’s blank look Tony spoke into his watch. “FRIDAY, play the relevant clip please.”

A moment later a recording of Tony’s voice, broken with grief asked “Did you know?”

Steve heard himself reply “I didn't know it was him.”

Then Tony snarled, “Don't bullshit me, Rogers! Did you know?”

And Steve heard himself say, “Yes.”

Tony glared at Steve, “We watched the love of your life murder my parents and I asked you if you knew. You said, and I quote: ‘I didn’t know it was him.’ From which I understood that you DID know that my parents had been murdered but were denying knowing that Barnes was the instrument of their deaths. I called that bullshit, bullshit that you didn’t know it was Barnes. And you said ‘Yes’, Yes you knew it was Barnes.

“Maybe you only suspected. But you weren’t surprised by the contents of that video. It didn’t catch YOU off guard to see your buddy murdering my parents. Nothing in that video was news to you. That is what I called bullshit when you claimed that you didn’t know.”

“I only knew that HYDRA had murdered Howard and your mother,” Steve insisted stubbornly. “That was all I was saying: Yes, I knew HYDRA killed them.”

Tony looked him up and down sketically. “Okay, so you’re rescinding that shitty excuse for an apology you sent along with the stone age phone? Good to know, glad we had this talk.”

“Tony, we have to be able to work together, for the sake of the world,” Steve insisted sincerity turned up to eleven. 

“Not a problem for me,” Tony shrugged. “I was being sent on ‘playdates’ that were actually networking opportunities for the parents before I could talk. I made it through years of mandatory group work in high school, undergrad and graduate school with teammates who’d either convinced themselves that I paid my way in or, alternately, who resented me for being both much younger and much smarter than they were. I’ve got decades of experience working with business partners who’d gleefully steal my IP if they thought they could get away with it. The only ones I’ve really had trouble working with were the ones that made it personal, tried to convince me that they cared about me to get me to lower my guard.

“I’m willing to make an exception for you. Because hell, it was my mistake thinking you were a friend more than you giving me any reason to believe that. I fooled myself, shouldn’t hold it against you. We are not friends. I have no further interest in being your friend. But we both have a vested interest in preventing the Earth’s destruction. That is all I need to work with you against Thanos… If you want more than that? Well THAT might be a problem for me.” 

“This sort of mistrust isn’t good for the team,” Steve protested. “I’m willing to move past it. If you’ll just let go of your hostility. And am I wrong in believing that a big part of that is that you really do believe that I knew it was Bucky HYDRA used and that I kept that from you?”

“FRIDAY?” Tony asked as he pulled out his phone. “The letter please?” He spent a moment skimming the screen then read in a flat voice. “I know I hurt you, Tony. I guess I thought by not telling you about your parents I was sparing you, but I can see now that I was really sparing myself, and I'm sorry.”

Steve waited for Tony to make his point.

“So Rogers, you didn’t know it was Barnes? If you had bothered to tell me everything you knew about my parent’s murder the conversation would have basically been: ‘Stark, I happened across some information about your parents. They were murdered by HYDRA.’”

Tony waited for a few beats then he asked. “What part of that conversation did you feel the need to spare yourself from?”


End file.
